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Cultivated by the Duchess of Beaufort in 1712. A hardy 
greenhouse plant. Will survive our milder winters when 
planted in a warm situation against a wall. The drawing 
was taken from a plant we ourselves raised from seed ga- 
thered at the Cape of Good Hope. 
The following is its description as given by Miller.“ It 
“ rises with irregular shrubby stalks ten or twelve feet high, 
“« sending out several crooked knotted branches, covered 
“ with a whitish bark, and armed with long sharp spines, 
* upon which grow many clusters of narrow leaves; these 
“ thorns often put out one or two smaller on their sides, 
_e¢ which have some clusters of smaller leaves upon them; 
«« the branches are garnished with very long leaves, an inch 
«and a half long, and at the base of these come out clusters 
< of shorter and narrower leaves. The flowers come out of 
« the side of the branches, standing upon short footstalks ; 
“ they have a short permanent calyx of one leaf, which is 
“ tubulous, and cut into five segments at the brim; the 
“ flower is funnelform, of one petal, with a long incurved. 
“ tube, cut into five obtuse segments at the brim, they are 
«of a dull purple colour, and have five stamina almost ag 
“jong as the tube, with erect anthers. In the centre is 
“situated a roundish germen, supporting a style. which is 
“longer than the stamina, crowned by a bifid (more truly 
“a capitate) stigma. The germen afterwards turns to a 
“ youndish fleshy berry, of a yellowish colour when ripe, in. 
** closing several hard seeds.” 
May be raised with great facility from cuttings. Fre. 
‘quently ripens its seeds with us. 
Nineteen species are recorded in Persoon’s Synopsis, 
By some or other of them the genus pervades every 
quarter of the globe. The nearest approach it makes to 
our Island is by the Southern part of France. One species 
only has been recorded by Mr. Pursh as native within the 
boundaries of the United States; and that grows 1m the’ 
warmer regions. 
